That's pretty cool, how are they going handle the snow up there, I imagine the winters are pretty fierce ?

never thought about the gravel issue, guess I am not a big consumer.

The winters here are not like they use to be 30 years ago. It is getting warmer year by year.

The amount of gravel , sand etc that is needed is so big that they have to open many new mines to satisfy the need. I think it is safe to say that for a lay person the price will skyrocket. Maybe I am wrong because they can use only the best quality materials and there will be a low quality material overload.

btw, is this train gonna run to talinn to Riga ?

According to the map it is. I certainly will use it to travel to germany , france etc. Of course if the price is suitable. Overall it will be a cool thing but the other side of the coin is the damage to the nature it causes.

Newfie wrote:The ballast used in any rail ROW has to meet specific criteria that VT can explain better. In shorty it needs to be of a specific size and have flat faces, not round, and it can not be pancake shaped.

That is pretty much it. Hard durable crushed stone with fractured faces to resist rolling under load.

56Office of: Vice President—EngineeringCSX TransportationStandard Specifications for Private SidetracksSeptember 15, 2016D)BALLASTMaterial shall be limestone, dolomite, or granite material free of loams, dust, or other foreign particles. Material shall be designated as AREMA. #4A or #5, in accordance with gradation chart shown below. The size of ballast to be used shall be AREMA #4A in main tracks, lead tracks, and sidings. AREMA #4A ballast will also be used between the top of the subballast and the bottom of crossties in industrial tracks, spurs, and yard tracks. AREMA #5 will be used to fill the cribs and shoulders in industrial tracks, spurs, and yard tracks (see drawing 2602 on page 20). Ballast shall conform to the grading requirements as shown in Table 7. Table 7: Track Ballast Gradation RequirementsPERCENT BY WEIGHT PASSINGMAINTRACKWALKWAYScreen SizeAREMA 4AAREMA 52 ½”100%290-100%1 ½’60-90%100%1”10-30%90-100%¾”0-10%40-75%½”15-35%3/8”0-2%0-15%No.40-5%E)

The sub ballast layers below the ballast layer are also crushed granite or limestone only with a one and a half inch maximum size and less then twelve percent silt content. Both products are easily made in a rock quarry with modern crushing and screening equipment.

vtsnowedin wrote:The cost of a charging station being much less then the EV itself I see no problem matching the number of charging stations to the number of EVs sold. There are already multiple installed at interstate rest areas most sitting unused at present. Urban parking problems will remain as always difficult, but there is no reason charging stations can't become as ubiquitous as parking meters are now and technologies like self driving Uber cars (EV of course) may dramatically reduce demand for urban parking of all types.

That's not going to be the case when every car is an electric car, and they take hours to charge. .

The average USA commute distance is 16 miles each way so most of the available models will only need to charge once a week. Also commuters spend more then ten hours a day at home eating and sleeping and the car can top off every night. Of course commuters with short commutes and garages or car ports at home will be the first adopters but there are about fifty million of those to build cars for before you start on the harder half. As I said there are already factory parking lots with solar panels over the parking spaces with some charging stations provided. In total it is a big project and expensive but well within American industries abilities to provide as and when needed. At present there is not the cost incentive to switch but let gas get above $6.00/gallon from carbon taxes or oil becoming scarcer and just a few years might make American highways majority EV.

We'll see what kind of actual distance per week the various models provide when there are various models to choose from. It is such an early adopter stage of production right now. I know I am getting ahead of everything. And I am saying that many people will be traveling farther than the 16 mile average when they may well travel less. It's way too early to predict what AI will do to commuting distance as it takes people's jobs. I can see a potential bottleneck that I don't think it will be as easy to traverse as capitulating to the fleet model would be. I don't really like the idea of widespread adoption of the fleet model. I like the fleet model in the place where taxis have always been relative to all other transport, or maybe a little larger. I'm not sure what it means about the people's way of life if they can't just get around without having to pay somebody when there is no balance between private ownership of transport and fleet model ownership. Of course, other things, like the degree of socialism in any given country, would have a bearing as well. Socialism could make transport so expensive as to cause the fleet model to be relatively cheaper, especially if it comes with an antagonistic attitude towards private ownership. In the US, it would mean a drastic change. I can see the fleet model being able to agitate for taking park space within cities in order for their fleets to charge, for instance. They may even be able to claim the right to use privately owned charging spots in certain neighborhoods, as long as they pay for the electricity. I don't know, it's good to talk about potential impact. I hear you about assuming it will be ok.

I live on a hill five miles from the nearest paved road and that five miles turns to eight inch deep mud during the spring thaw cycles. Also when I work the round trip commute is a hundred miles plus mileage I put on around the project. I will not be a first adopter of an EV. and I will not consider one until a model has a track record of being good in mud and snow. But I'm not the average commuter by any means. My wife on the other hand has only a sixteen mile round trip down to the village so range for her would not be an issue as long as the car could go in snow and mud. I doubt rural people will ever give up ownership as they want their car in the driveway when they want it and will never want to wait for an Uber to show up. Inner cities are quite another matter with the cost of parking etc. so I see that as the place self driving EV Uber cars will take hold especially when the cars begin communicating with each other and a central server and smooth out traffic flows as they will be aware of when the lights will turn green.

And that’s one of the problems with a lot of proposed legislation; it is created by urban folks who have no knowledge of folks who don’t live in a city. There world view encompasses what they know and nothing more.